| 2009
Fanboy Planet Gift Guide -- DVDs
Many will have a few days off after Christmas,
which makes the holidays such a perfect time to give DVDs
of favorite movies or programs so that your loved one can
sit in front of the TV and obsessively watch an entire season
plus extras. Here are a few of the things we recommend this
year. Though a few have been available for months, now's
the time to strike. The other great thing about Blu-ray
technology this year is that finally the studios get it
and have been releasing some fine products at reasonable
prices.
300: The Complete Experience
Sure, this is Sparta, or at least Frank
Miller's hopped up version of it. Grey, sweaty and muscular,
Zack Snyder's adaptation of Miller's graphic novel broke
new ground just a couple of years ago, proving to Hollywood
once and for all that comics were an incredibly fertile
source for movies.
For that alone, this "Complete Experience"
would be worthwhile. An included booklet provides background
information, which is nice and all, but Warner really takes
advantage of the possibilities of the Blu-ray format, providing
several layers of commentary, including one which gives
you a textured picture in picture commentary. Snyder explains
things, and you can simultaneously watch two versions of
the film - the actors emoting and wrestling on a green-screen
set, and the finished product after what the director calls
"crunching," saturating the darks to emulate Miller's heavy
inks.
But is the movie itself worthwhile? Some
complained about its historical inaccuracy and some of its
admittedly ridiculous characterization of the Persian Empire.
Yet that's part of the point - it's a propaganda story brought
to life on the screen, told to embolden the Spartans who
came afterward, and as such rewards a repeat viewing. It's
also as visually stunning and creative as its reputation
suggests.
Fight Club: 10th Anniversary
If only for being occasional staffer Michael
Goodson's second favorite movie, this would go on the list.
But David Fincher's striking adaptation of Chuck Pahlaniuk's
seminal work seems to have only grown more vital and important
in the ensuing decade. A satire of men's roles in a society
subsumed by capitalism - or at least, that's my take at
this moment -- Fight Club is a film you watch over
and over again because it's rewarding on each viewing.
This tenth anniversary edition has rewards
of its own: commentaries covering the film from any angle
you could possibly want - direction, acting, writing, technical
efforts - and extra features out the wazoo. Maybe Tyler
Durden wouldn't approve of a menu so encyclopedic it seems
like you can isolate any individual moment in the film via
key words, but for someone obsessed with this film, and
there are many, it's heaven.
The disc also includes an opening DVD joke
that only deepens the message of Fight Club. We're
constantly in danger of succumbing to inanity, and it seems
pleasant enough on the surface. The only thing I think this
movie got wrong is that it would take violent action to
crumble capitalism. I look around and I think it's doing
a pretty good job of collapsing on its own. Help save it
by giving this gift for Christmas.
Justice League: The Complete Series
We talked about this on the podcast almost
a month ago, but it's worth reminding and putting it here.
Bruce Timm had already made a variety of amazing animated
series centered on Batman, but once Warner let him loose
on the DC Universe, he managed to lead a production staff
to even greater heights.
Both
Justice League
and Justice League
Unlimited are included in this tin-boxed set. That
makes hours upon hours of 91 incredible episodes, but at
Christmas time, the one you want to dig out is "Comfort
and Joy," which features Clark Kent taking J'onn J'onnz
to Smallville for the holidays, and The Flash teaming up
with the Ultra-Humanite to give a group of orphans a memorable
Christmas.
That's
just one highlight of a series that kept finding ways to
show casual viewers just why hardcore fans loved these characters.
It also had some influence on regular DC Comics; though
the situation is different, it's pretty obvious that "The
Greatest Story Never Told" played a huge influence on
DC's current hit book Booster Gold.
This collection has everything the individual
season releases had, but also comes with a bonus disc devoted
to a long overdue retrospective. That rights a wrong on
the previous releases - they were always a season behind
in their overview featurettes. At last, we've got some closure,
just like Timm brought things full circle with his earlier
animated series here before moving on to produce the DC
Universe films.
Though different, the real legacy of this
series can be seen with a younger audience today in Batman:
The Brave and the Bold, created by James Tucker, whose
growth as a creative force can be tracked through the Justice
League shows.
Ruby-Spears' Superman
This
is a missing link in modern television animation history.
Joe Ruby and Ken
Spears were really still working as a sister company
to Hanna-Barbera, which was undergoing absorption by Warner
Brothers through what would become Cartoon Network. Writer/Producer
Alan Burnett had nudged H-B's Super
Friends into, well, if not maturity, at least a
greater sophistication in its storytelling. But Paul Dini
and Bruce Timm were still a few years away from working
with him on Batman: The Animated Series.
In between is this series from Ruby-Spears
which threw off a lot of the problems of television's "limited"
animation. Focusing smartly on characterization, these thirteen
episodes introduced a more complex Superman than either
Filmation's series or Super Friends had ever done,
and filled in a lot of background information with short
vignettes from "Superman's Family Album."
The biggest draw would be their take on
Lex Luthor, combining what John Byrne had done with the
character in comics with the playfulness of Gene Hackman's
movie version. As a result, kids everywhere discovered what
it meant to have a villain you'd love to hate, without it
being stupid.
Unfortunately, the show suffered from an
8:30 a.m. Saturday morning time slot, back in the days when
you'd have to laboriously set your VCR. Lasting only 13
episodes, it still showed that "kids' animation" could move
into a higher level of intelligence - as in, not insulting
to it. On its own, it's entertaining, but for fans, it's
a vital lost piece of history.
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